Whether you need them or not, whether you like them or not, movie franchises seem to go on and on. It's as if some film God hatched a sinister plan and powered these films with the Duracell bunny batteries from the TV commercials. They just won't stop. And the most resilient of these unwarranted franchises are the ones made for young adults. The Twilight movies started the trend, the Hunger Games movies reaffirmed it, and franchises like Maze Runner and Divergent dug in like ticks on a tropical trek. Maze Runner's third instalment – The Death Cure is a mazing mess. It starts off with a lot of promise. But in the end, especially the second half, it just becomes too loud and too obvious a Hollywood gimmick. A certified crowd-pleasing effort trying too hard to be complex.

The story deals with the franchise's hero Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) leading his pack in a bunch of trucks hot on the tracks of a train. The train's headed to the WCKD head quarters at Last City and its carrying Thomas' old friend Minho (Ki Hong Lee). As always there's a rescue mission in the offing and in all fairness the opening sequence sets a very good tone. Its dusty, gritty and fast. Just the kid of exhilarating opening that a sci-fi action film needs. But once the early mayhem settles down, The Death Cure takes up the more familiar route of escape plans, scientists in a lab, aggro armies and soldiers and of course lots of double cross moments and twists. Here in India, we call them the Abbas-Mustan tricks and they always bring back memories of Race (2008). Sadly, the grit of Maze Runner gives way and some tired Hollywood writing makes sure that random characters from the franchise pop up at random scenes in the narrative to create ‘oh gosh’ kind of moments. There’s a nice thought that runs through the story, that of looking after your friends. But the way characters pop in and out of the narrative and the way they're killed off for dramatic effect seems lame.

Director Wes Ball has some really good ideas and the boom, bang approach really lends thump to his action-packed finale for the franchise. But for every good set piece of action, The Death Cure serves up a horrid filler scene with jaded sentimentality. Dylan O'Brien gives a solid performance. So do Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Kaya Scodelario. But the best efforts of the young cast are wasted by a screenplay trying too hard to be too epic. The finale, with the helicopters, ulterior motives and sacrificing friends has been seen in apocalypse based movies since time immemorial.

Maze Runner was a franchise that started off with a fresh idea in the first film. But it huffed and puffed its way to a climax that in all fairness, is nothing short of a massive let down.